City presents flat $35.9M FY2026 general fund budget, proposes sanitation fee increases and capital priorities

Budget and strategy manager Daria Chrysikas presented the FY2026 proposed budget and highlighted the work done over six months to produce a flat general fund at $35,900,000. Chrysikas said the projection is based on a millage rate of 6.25 mills and that inflationary pressures and slowing revenue growth constrained options; the budget package preserves strategic investments including renewable energy infrastructure, technology for a real-time crime center and funding tied to the parks general obligation bond.

Chrysikas cited several significant allocations: $1.2 million toward right-of-way acquisition (partly TIP and SPLOST-funded) to advance the rail-trail right-of-way; funds to continue implementation of the Chamblee Safety Action Plan (80% grant-funded with a 20% local match); and debt-service for Fishbowl Park and a new public works building. She also noted carryover funds for the Dresden Park community room and paving funds tied to the city's biennial paving program.

On the 2026 fee schedule, staff proposed formalizing a new complimentary beer/wine establishment license fee, a $25 technology fee on certain permits, and a schedule of sanitation fee increases to reduce the sanitation enterprise deficit. Public works director Todd Hill described a three-year phased increase intended to bring commercial sanitation to about $360 a year for one cart and to move residential sanitation toward full cost recovery with staged annual increases. Hill said the sanitation enterprise has been supplemented by the general fund by over $1,000,000 annually and that the increases are intended to reduce that subsidy.